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Letters 3-8-14

Don’t delist humpback whales

The Feb. 28 West Hawaii Today was quite distressing for me as it seems that Alaska is seeking to delist humpback whales from the endangered species list. Do we have to see a dwindling number again before we protect them once again?It’ll be like the green sea turtles, which today we see abundantly on our beaches thanks to being on the protected species list.

As a child growing up I have no recollection of ever seeing these gentle turtles anywhere in the Kahaluu Beach area or anywhere on any of our beaches. After doing some research, I discovered that it was not until 1973 that the honu was placed on the endangered species list. Now that the protection has been in place, everyone can enjoy seeing the green sea turtles that frequent our shores.

Let’s hope that we don’t wait until the humpback whales decline in number again before relisting it on the federal protection list. These sightings draw tourists to our shores.

We need to protect our natural resources, not let them decrease in number before protecting them again. It’s economics and common sense to keep them protected.

Colleen Miyose-Wallis

Kailua-Kona

Mahalo for shedding light on domestic violence issue

A huge mahalo for featuring the article on domestic violence and the vigil in Hilo organized by Mitch Roth on your front page. It’s a very uncomfortable subject for many, and guaranteed numerous people simply turned the page. I wish I could supply you with accurate statistics concerning domestic violence in West Hawaii, but because so much is unreported — the shame, embarrassment, denial — numbers are unreliable.

What readers should know is that domestic violence takes many forms: verbal, emotional, psychological, financial, sexual and physical abuse. Somebody who is constantly berated, threatened or bullied is just as much of a victim as somebody who is physically harmed.

Many times that type of abuse escalates to the physical kind. Whatever the type, the victim’s life is changed forever, and as we have seen, tragically, for many it’s death.

Thank you so much for having the courage to call attention to this extremely important issue.